Pureblood - on hiatus
by LeoLeonte
Summary: The dark, the light and all the grey areas in between. Hermione thinks her future is settled - and it is. Just not in the way she thought. Her world is turned upside down and nothing is what she thought it was. Not even herself. Meanwhile, Draco thought he had finally gained control of his own life. Needless to say, he was wrong.
1. Chapter 1

** Hey people. This thing has been stuck in my head for a while and I'm trying to clean up that place. It's been a long time since I've written anything, so I'm a bit rusty and I apologise if I'm being clumsy. This fic is rated T for now, but it may change later as I'm still adjusting some things. I hope you will read it, enjoy it and leave a review.

\- Leo

"Lucius!"

The desperate cries of a man reverberated throughout the halls of Malfoy Manor, followed by the distinct sound of a baby wailing.

Not long after, the Master of the Manor came down the stairs in a huff, irritated that the newcomer had woken his son. Merlin knew that putting a 3 month old baby to sleep was a challenge to say the least and seeing as his wife had insisted that they took care of him rather than letting the house elves take him during the night, sleep was a precious thing.

It wasn't until he reached the bottom of the stairs that he realised that the crying did not in fact come from his son. The sound was much too fragile compared to the powerful screech his son had perfected. The boy had big lungs, that much was clear.

No, this was the sound of a newborn, now mixed with the sobbing coming from the man sitting on the floor. He was sitting on his hunches, a small bundle in his arms and a figure lying very still next to him.

Lucius frowned, not quite comprehending the scene before him through his sleep addled mind. It was unacceptably late that he recognised the curly hair as that of his best friend.

Footsteps came rushing down behind him and the gasp that followed told him that his quick minded wife had analysed the situation much faster than himself.

"Evan!"

In an uncharacteristicly inelegant manner, Narcissa ran to his friend, and sat down next to him. She examined the figure and Lucius saw her eyes widen. It wasn't until he heard her choked sob that he shook himself out of his stupor and walked hesitantly to the small group huddled on the floor. He sat down gently next to his friend, putting a hand on his shoulder. He had an idea as to what might have happened, but he needed confirmation.

"Evan? What happened?" he softly asked.

The baby was still crying and he barely heard his friend whisper "I think she's hungry"

Narcissa sniffled and reached for the baby with shaking hands. "May I?" she gave the man a small watery smile. He hesitantly shifted the bloody bundle so it was easier for her to grab hold. She took the newborn as if she might break at any time and turned around to protect her modesty, realising that her bra was already soaked with milk. The baby eagerly latched on.

"What happened?" Lucius repeated gently.

"They came for us" the man whispered brokenly, looking at Lucius without really seeing. Lucius kept quiet, waiting for his friend to continue.

"The wards held, but Celeste…" his voice broke as he said his wife's name. He cleared his throat. "The water broke. Everything went so fast and there was so much blood!" he started crying again and Lucius's heart broke for him. "I couldn't take her to St. Mungo's. You know they would have killed the both of us and taken our baby."

Lucius sneered involuntarily. He knew exactly what would happen. The order didn't have enough solid evidence of his own involvement with the Dark Lord, to sway certain individuals that he happened to donate some money to – at least not yet. Evan had been caught red handed though, trying to steal the list of muggleborns that were supposed to receive their Hogwarts letters. He was lucky to escape, but the Order took this as confirmation that he was bound on killing muggleborn children.

Morons.

Lucius slowly stood, and reached an arm to help Evan stand, but the man stayed put, rocking back and forth, crying his heart out. Lucius sighed.

"Ellie!" he called out, tapping his foot impatiently. Not long after, he heard the small pop that signaled the arrival of a young house elf.

"Ellie, bring me a calming draught from storage and prepare a room. We will also need an extra cradle. Thank you."

Ellie looked at the scene with wide eyes, wringing her ears. "Should Ellie also find clothes for Master and Mistress' guests? Ellie will only levitate. Never touch" she squeaked.

Lucius almost smiled at the elf. Almost.

"Yes, thank you, that will be all."

Narcissa sat rocking the baby who had fallen asleep. She smiled at the little girl through her tears. Her mothering instinct had taken over upon hearing the baby wailing, but now that she had stopped, the severity of the situation started sinking in.

Celeste had died in childbirth and Evan was on the run.

"Evan, is it alright if I go to clean her a bit?" she asked as gently as possible.

Evan just nodded numbly, still just staring ahead. Narcissa wondered if he even registered what she was saying.

Nonetheless, she stood and walked upstairs. The blood the baby was still covered in from her birth, had dried and needed to be taken care of.

She went to the bedroom, where Draco was still sleeping soundly and she smiled lovingly at her son.

"Our son is going to be very spoiled, but he should be able to share with you" she whispered to the sleeping infant in her arms, picking some of Draco's clothes out of a drawer for the baby to wear. She cleaned away the worst of the blood, deciding that washing her would only wake her up.

Ellie was too slow with the cradle, so she extended Draco's crib with a spell, and laid the girl next to her sleeping son. She smiled softly - they made quite the pair.

She left the room and hurried down the stairs. She found that Lucius had managed to pull Evan to a standing position and was trying to lead him into the drawing room. He sent her a sad, significant look over his shoulder, gently nodding towards the body still laying in front of the fireplace in the entrance hall. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to cry, but nodded to her husband anyway as she heard him speaking gently to the broken man he was half carrying to the sofa.

She would do what needed to be done. She always did. She closed the door behind the gentlemen with a soft wandless spell and sat down softly next to her friend. She and Celeste hadn't always gotten along. Evans parents had tried to negotiate a marriage contract with the Blacks, but when it was clear that they weren't interested, his parents had to settle for a Greengrass.

Celeste Greengrass was, as far as Narcissa was concerned, not a second prize though. She had always thought that Celeste was smarter, more powerful and more beautiful than herself. Even now as she lay on the floor, her body getting colder by the minute, she looked stunning with her curly brown locks framing her now unnaturally pale face.

Celeste was in her night gown, but the bottom half was almost entirely soaked in blood. It hadn't dried yet, due to the sheer amount, and it had been smeared onto the floor. It was clear that she never had a chance and Narcissa knew it was due to the curse that ran in the Greengrass family.

Narcissa caressed Celestes face and finally let the tears fall in earnest. She cried for Celeste, she cried for Evan and she cried for the little motherless girl, asleep upstairs.

"Mimsy!" She called through her tears. The telltale pop sounded and Narcissa didn't wait for the elf to request orders. "Mimsy, go to my wardrobe and retrieve one of my white nightgowns and then please take Celeste's body –" Her voice broke "Please take her body to one of the guest rooms upstairs and clean her. When you've done that, dress her and lay her on the bed. Light candles in the room and let me know when you're finished."

The elf stared at her wide eyed, but did as asked.

With a pop, the elf disappeared with her friend, and Narcissa was left alone with a bloody floor. Not having the stomach to look at it for too long, she gave it a scourgify that was a little too rough, leaving the floor where the blood had been, a little too bright compared to the rest. The elves would just have to work harder tomorrow.

She stood with a sigh and ran a hand down her face, trying to compose herself before she joined the men in the drawing room.

They sat on each their sofa, facing each other, but staring into the fire. She went to sit next to Lucius and even though both had registered her arrival, none of them moved. It wasn't until several moments later that Evan sighed heavily and leaned back in the sofa and looked at them.

"I need your help."

Please review


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you so much for your kind reviews! I hadn't expected so many from the first chapter and I'm very grateful. Anyway – here's another chapter. Let me know what you think.**

 **\- Leo**

Lucius frowned. His friend was obviously in need of assistance, but they were still Slytherins. Even between their own, help was rarely requested and even more rarely given. Him asking was certainly enough to illustrate exactly how dire the situation was – and so was his response;

"Of course."

Evans shoulders sagged in obvious relief. He closed his eyes and took a steadying breath before speaking. "My daughter is in danger."

Lucius' eyebrows narrowed even further. He tried in vain to school his features into an impassive mask. By the time this night was over, he would have permanent wrinkles. "What do you mean danger?"

"Come on Lucius. Just by existing, just by being pureblood and just by being a girl, she's in danger. You know just as well as I, what could happen. Narcissa certainly does."

Narcissa pursed her lips. She knew indeed.

"Too many of those fanatics are obsessed with continuing the bloodlines, and much too many are obsessed with keeping it pure. So many marriages are arranged and so many couples loathe each other, so they stop trying for more children after the first son is born. Girls are in high demand, and some of the more questionable company we keep will do anything to steal a bride for their sons, or even for themselves." He ground out bitterly.

Narcissa knew exactly what he meant. Her sister had been stolen by the Lestrange family when they were still just in their teens and Merlin and Morgana only knew what they did to her. Bella was never a saint, but she had turned into a bloodthirsty monster, twisted by dark magic and filled with rage, which she would direct at anything that dared breathe in her presence. She tried time and again to get out of the marriage contract – especially after the Dark Lord's rise, but it was sealed with very dark blood magic. Narcissa wasn't convinced that the narcissistic megalomaniac made for better husband material than Rodolphus though. She had been lucky that her parents had negotiated a marriage contract for her that was more on her own terms, and lucky to have a husband who would treat her with respect rather than as a brood mare.

She sighed. "What do you need us to do?"

"I need some favours. It's asking a lot" He turned his sad brown eyes to Narcissa.

Narcissa pursed her lips "We'll do what we can."

Evan scratched the back of his head. "I need you to hide her. I want to put her in the muggle world."

Lucius blinked at him. "Are you daft? She'll be in even more danger! The Dark Lord is more powerful than ever." He exclaimed.

Evan stood up and started pacing. "If she stays here in the Wizarding community, it won't be long until she's taken by another pureblood family or the Dark Lord. What's worse though, is that the Order will be out for her as well, in order to use her to get to me. Dumbledore will twist the mind of anyone who wants to listen and he's more than willing to recruit children. I wouldn't be surprised if he was willing to torture them as well. With our luck, she would be put in Dumbledores custody immediately after my capture or rather my execution."

"You talk about being caught as if it's a certain thing." Lucius' right eyebrow managed to rise from its frowning position.

"Of course, it is." Evan sighed. "Surely you don't think I can run forever – Especially not with a baby. You can't be that naïve. If it isn't going to be the Order, it's going to be the Dark Lord when he finds out what I've been up to."

"What _we've_ been up to" Lucius corrected him.

Evan stopped pacing and turned to face him "That's another thing. You need to obliviate me, so I don't remember your involvement in our little project. If – or when I get caught, I don't want to be able to incriminate you. You'll have to continue without me though. No one suspects you – you seem so loyal to the Dark Lord, yet too kind to be a bloodthirsty maniac" he smirked.

Lucius ran a hand down his face and rubbed the space between his eyebrows with two fingers, trying to smooth out the wrinkle. He had been a leading part of their operation, but only from the sidelines. He had a lot of other obligations – the Dark Lord was especially demanding these days. He sighed and turned his face to look at Narcissa, her hair, shining in the light coming from the fireplace.

She rolled her eyes " _I_ will do it. No one takes me seriously anyways, so no one will notice me going out every so often. They will just assume I've gone to Paris or something equally frivolous." She waved him off.

"But Cissy, it's the muggle world…" Lucius trailed off, knowing that his wife's experience with muggles barely covered sneering at a muggle studies book another student had shown her in fourth year at Hogwarts.

"You think you're the only one Severus talks to?" She scoffed. "I will travel the muggle world by foot and speak to all muggles in the entire country, if I must." She nodded firmly and looked him in the eye as if challenging her.

Lucius smiled at her ruefully. He knew there was no winning this argument. He didn't like it – it was dangerous, and it meant certain death if she were caught, probably by either side. But he also knew his wife was a competent witch. She was a social chameleon; a brilliant actress and her wand work was fast paced and ruthless. She was by far the most talented of the Black sisters and the most underestimated. He knew he had won the lottery with her. Where others saw a beautiful and demure trophy wife, he knew she was a force to be reckoned with. She simply chose not to advertise it, thus taking her enemies by surprise. Slytherin to the core.

"How far have you come along?" he asked Evan, who sighed and sat back down.

"I didn't get the entire list out from the ministry, but I did manage to copy some names. I've tracked down four so far, but I'm still missing six" He wrinkled his nose, not happy with the lack of progress. "I already contacted the parents of those four. I gave them an address to send a letter to, if they have questions. Two sets of parents laughed in my face. One set started calling the police – muggle aurors" he explained when he saw Narcissas puzzled frown. "One of them had already started presenting magic though – she was only one year old! Can you imagine?" He smiled.

"Impressive!" Narcissa exclaimed in surprise. Children should commonly display signs of magic before the age of seven, but most didn't until they were around three or four. Like most others in their circles, Narcissa had been brought up in a strict household, founded upon centuries of blood purity – or inbreeding, however you chose to look at it. Every day, all day the lesson was that muggles were primitive and wizards superior. When she was a child, that had been a fact.

When she grew up and went to Hogwarts, the issue had turned into something far more complicated. Seeing muggleborns do as well, if not better than yourself was mind-altering. Now it was a choice – to toe the line and publicly declare that all muggles were filth, or to be blasted off the family tree like Sirius or Andromeda. Narcissa wasn't prone to self-torture, so she chose the former and did it so well, that it wasn't until three years into their marriage, that Lucius had the courage to tell her about his project and point of view and not least, the ones who shared it with him.

What Lucius really wanted was simple enough. To protect the wizarding world. Each year there was a larger intake of muggleborns at Hogwarts. Contrary to popular belief, Lucius didn't mind the muggleborns too much. He was wary of them and he didn't like the way they were introduced to wizarding society. Waiting eleven years to tell them what they were, was a very long time, especially since there were already recordings of magical children in the ministry and at Hogwarts. Waiting didn't make sense in his opinion. Parents of magical children ought to be informed of their magic as soon as possible and the ministry ought to help them contain the child when they were having magical outbursts. They would of course also have to monitor the behaviour of the parents and if proven untrustworthy, they would have to be eliminated or as a minimum be obliviated. In which case, the child would fall into the custody of the ministry. At first, he had just wanted to kidnap all the muggleborns and be done with it. Make a relocation program of sorts. But he had come to understand, that the bond between parent and child should not be broken unless there was absolutely no choice.

Which brought them back to the current predicament.

"I think I have an idea about where to hide her. We could –" Lucius started, but was interrupted by Evan

"Stop. I trust you, Lucius. The less I know the better. Hell, the less anyone knows about her, the better. She would probably be safest, if people thought she died with Celeste" His eyes were shining in the firelight with unshed tears. He sat on the sofa, scratching the expensive fabric. The next topic wasn't going to be easy. He sighed heavily and willed the tears to stop trying to fall.

"There is one last thing. One that neither of you will like, I'm afraid." He leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands.

Both Malfoys were looking at him with scepticism when he looked back up.

"I would like to propose a marriage contract between your son and my daughter" He sighed wearily.

Exactly three seconds passed, where they were processing the offer before exploding

"Absolutely not!"

"You can't possibly mean that!"

He smiled apologetically at them and sighed again, suddenly feeling much older than he was. "I think you don't quite understand, how much danger she's in. Even when we announced Celeste's pregnancy, it wasn't more than a day before the letters started coming, from families wanting to make an offer, in case we had a girl. We've had propositions from Nott, Flint, Goyle and even Parkinson – they're apparently expecting and wanted to cover their bases, in case they had a boy." Evan rolled his eyes but ended the roll in a frown. "What worries me more is that I was approached in person, by Walden Macnair. He said that he knew what I was doing, but that he wouldn't tell the Dark Lord, if we were family" He finished, looking disgusted.

And by greenish hue the Malfoys skin had taken, he wasn't the only one.

"But Macnair? He's even older than us! He can't possibly be serious. He's even already married!" Lucius sneered.

Evan looked grim "A few days later, I talked to Avery. He said that Edith was unable to bear a child and has thus proven herself worthless. He told me that Walden was looking for another to provide him with a suitable heir. My guess is that he already killed Edith and will take any pureblooded girl he can get his dirty hands on" He growled. "The others won't care about her either. They just want to continue the bloodline and need a bloody incubator. I know that you will raise your son right though. As I said, I trust you."

Lucius sighed, the exhaustion setting in his bones. "Evan, you just can't ask this of us. It's our son's future. There will be many things in which he won't have a choice, but we would like him to have this."

Evan nodded in defeat. He understood choice. None of them had had any choice, but to join the Dark Lord, their fathers had started that show. Odds were that their children wouldn't have any choices either. It was join or die on this side of the war.

"We could test them." Narcissa whispered.

"What do you mean?" Lucius asked confusedly.

"After Bella… After her ordeal, my mother wanted me to have a contract drawn. I managed to convince her to test for matches before agreeing to any contract. That way I would at least be somewhat compatible with my future husband." She pursed her lips, purposefully avoiding Lucius' eyes.

Lucius frowned "I don't remember being part of any test."

"You wouldn't" She smirked at him and turned to Evan. "It's a charm and it uses the hair of the ones you need to test. If they are a match, and ONLY if, we might draw up a contract."

Lucius stared at her "Are you sure?"

She nodded "We have to protect her – or at least do our best."


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry for the long wait. My life is currently a bit crazier than I'm used to and I have very little time to write. At the same time, this has to be the longest chapter I've ever written, and also one of the hardest. There's a still-birth situation in it, so keep that in mind if you have any issues with something like that (I do, but I managed to write it anyway and I'm quite proud of myself for that). But back to the story - please read and leave a review!

...

Lucius walked down the long corridor, white walls on either side, littered with brown doors in even intervals. It probably wasn't too long, but to Lucius, every minute spent in the muggle world felt like an hour and thus, every foot felt like a mile. He would never get used to it. The hospital was a place he made sure to avoid like the plague. If he hadn't known that they actually managed to save lives every so often, he would have thought it was a slaughter house. Nonetheless, he could honestly say he was impressed with some of the advances the muggles had made without magic – that didn't mean he had to like it though. It smelled strange too.

A female scream that could best be described as a roar reverberated through the building and brought him back to reality. He was on a mission – and it wasn't a pleasant one. Cradled in his arms was a small bundle – Evans daughter. She was sleeping soundly, not even a day old and already he was walking down these halls, to give her away. It was too cruel, but it was the only way the plan could work.

He passed a half-wilted fern, which he sneered at, before reaching a small window cut into the wall, with what looked like an office on the other side. One of those tube-things with light in the ceiling was blinking and it was annoying him to no end. He knocked on the window and a kind looking woman stood from a desk at the other end of the room and came to speak to him.

"Yes?" She smiled at him – he wasn't used to kind smiles being directed at him. Most people recognised him from the Prophet, and not for something that would encourage kindness in others. It unnerved him even more than he already was.

He cast a silent confundus charm, watching as her eyes glazed over before speaking "Someone seems to have dropped a vase further down the hall. There's glass on the floor."

"Oh dear!" She hurried out of his field of vision and came out of the door next to the window. She took off down the hall, her practical shoes, squeaking against the floor. His plan had been to sneak into the office to look at the records but decided to follow the woman instead. She might be better at helping him find what he needed. Reading someone's mind without eye contact was hard but considering the fact that this woman was a muggle, he chanced it. He directed his wand discreetly to point at the back of her head and whispered "legilimens"

The woman hissed and her right hand shot to her temple. It would feel like a slight migraine, but it should pass after a couple of hours. Soon he was flooded with images of the different patients she had seen during the day. One particular couple stood out.

Lucius almost crashed into her, when she made a sudden stop near a cupboard and started pulling out the mop and bucket, she would need to clean the floor. "Imperio" he whispered. Her back straightened immediately and she looked at him with unseeing eyes – he hated that part. "Take me to them" He didn't have to specify further. The tear that was trailing down her right cheek was enough sign that she had understood who he meant, and she turned to guide him down the hall in the direction they had come from. She led him to a room with a sign on the door that said "Do not disturb"

He listened at the door, hearing faint sobbing through it. It was the kind of sobbing coming from someone who had been crying for a long time, but just couldn't seem to stop. He knew that kind of crying, having been in a similar situation himself a few years back. He wasn't ashamed to say that he had cried just as much as his wife. He opened the door to a darkened room. On a bed near the window, the figure of a woman was lying, shaking with sobs, a man next to her, holding her hand, whispering gently to her through his own tears. They hadn't even noticed the door being opened.

He ordered the nurse further into the room, closed the door, sighed and took a deep breath before sending two gentle, silent stupefy their way, just to put them to sleep.

This was the hardest part.

He went to the cradle which stood in the corner, with another form lying all too still. He cast a hover charm on Evans daughter, not wanting to put her in the cradle when it was already occupied, and gently picked up the bundle lying there. He cast a spell on it, just to make sure that there wasn't some spark of miracle to be seen, but there was no reaction. He sighed sadly and transferred the bundle for the nurse to hold and turned his attention back to the girl. He grabbed her out of the air and cancelled the charm. Somehow, she was still asleep. His son would have screamed at the smallest disturbance – he had a feeling he would grow up to be a handful. Maybe this one would be more agreeable. Against his better judgement, Lucius decided to leave the soft blanket as it was, rather than transfiguring the fabric into the hospital standard. Instead of sleeping, even though she was exhausted, Narcissa had stayed up through the night, carefully embroidering the blanket with the name she knew Celeste had chosen, should she have a girl. How she managed to do it would forever be a mystery to Lucius – she couldn't have been seeing very well through her tears and only by firelight. It was one of Dracos blankets, embroidered in the other corner with his personal monogram. He thought it was rather fitting, considering how their destinies were entwined.

This was not the future he had wanted for his son. He hadn't wanted to take away his choice, especially since they had betrothed him to a girl who wouldn't grow up with the same customs and the same culture as they had. At least Narcissa would be able to keep an eye on her and teach her from a distance, but he feared they would have no common ground to stand on, when the time came, and his son would hate him for sure.

His wife was certain it would work though. She had performed the spell thrice, to be sure, all while he and Evan stood beside her feeling useless. She had declared them compatible enough. Enough to make it work well between them, but not so much as to make them complacent.

When he was done, he turned to the parents. He smiled sadly. The mother was lying in the bed and the father slumped over in the chair, still holding her hand. He steeled himself for what he had to do. It was wrong on so many points, he just hoped the gods would forgive him.

"Obliviate"

He removed the memory of the heartbreak they had been through, replacing it with that of giving birth to a healthy baby girl. He planted the memory of the mother, embroidering the blanket and thus cementing the girl's name.

Hermione.

He finished them off with a light cheering charm, to chase away any lingering melancholy and turned to the nurse next. He took the small bundle from her, careful to handle it gently out of respect. Through the imperio, he ordered her to go redact the medical record, showing that the couple hadn't lost their baby, but gained a daughter. He sniffed at the surname "Granger" it wasn't exactly pretty, but it had some relatively powerful connotations to the potion's society. Severus would probably be pleased.

He turned on his heel and disapparated. Once the parents woke, probably when the little girl was hungry, they would only remember having fallen asleep, exhausted from the toll the birth would have taken. Their eyes would be sensitive, but both would assume they had cried tears of happiness. They had no reason to be sad anymore after all.

...

Arriving at the gates of the Manor, he held the little one closer against the wind. He walked the rest of the long way to the main house, where he was met by a house elf as soon as he entered.

"M-master?" The creature stuttered, its big green eyes more directed at the bundle in his arms, rather than him. He gave the elf a small smile.

"Take this and put it in the room with mistress Celeste"

He realised then, that he hadn't even thought to check if it was a boy or a girl. He honestly wasn't sure he had the stomach to do it. One thing was knowing what was in the blankets – to see it would be something entirely different. He gave it to the elf and sighed heavily when he heard the crack as it disappeared. Suddenly feeling very worn, he dragged his feet to the drawing room, going directly for the drinks cart, where he poured himself an indecent amount of brandy.

He looked around the room, without really seeing it, lost in his thoughts about what he had just done and what the future might bring. He didn't even hear Evan enter the room.

"How did it go?" He asked hesitantly, sitting down on the opposite sofa, reminiscent of the night before.

"As expected. I brought the other one back with me. I have a feeling this will come back to haunt me in the future." Lucius grimaced after taking a bit too large gulp of his brandy.

Evan nodded and sighed.

"I apologise, Lucius"

"Don't worry about it. You would have done the same." He waved him off.

Evan looked at him sadly, shaking his head. "No, that's not what I mean. I apologise for this."

"What do y-"

"Obliviate"

Lucius went completely still as Evan extracted his memories of the last day. He siphoned them into a small glass vial, stoppered it and put it in his pocket. He then went on to change the memories left in his mind. Now, all Lucius knew was that he had come through the fireplace with his wife and child – both dead. It was the best he could do for his daughter's protection, even if his heart was breaking at the thought. He leaned back in the sofa and looked at Lucius. He seemed frozen in time and Evan knew that it would be approximately thirty minutes before his brain had caught up with the new memories and he would return. He had work to do in the meantime.

Tracking down Narcissa had been easy, considering the vastness of the Manor. He found her in a rocking chair in the nursery, almost dozing, with her son on her chest. She hadn't seen him, and he whispered the forgetting spell, directing the wand at the back of her head, extracting her memories in the same manner as he had done with her husband. He had left both of them with memories of parts of their conversation from the night before – namely Narcissas promise to continue their work and their promise to obliviate him, should he be caught and interrogated. He wouldn't talk under torture, he knew that from experience, but if they brought out Veritaserum, Narcissa and Lucius would be doomed for everything he knew of their involvement with the Dark Lord and their little secret organisation.

They would remember nothing of the plans to hide his daughter and nothing of the magical marriage contract, currently lying in his pocket.

Speaking of pockets, he slowly snatched the piece of parchment out of Narcissas outer robe pocket, careful not the disturb the baby, and added the name he had snatched from Lucius' head

Hermione Granger.

He frowned. The strange last name bothered him.

He was running out of time and ran to Lucius' study to grab an envelope, where he gently deposited the marriage contract and added the two glass vials after casting heavy protection charms on them. He hastily scribbled a note with instructions to the goblin in charge of his accounts and attached it to the envelope. Next, he ran like the devil was at his heels to the owlery, where he borrowed one of the Malfoy owls to send it towards Gringotts, where the secret would be safe until it was time.

He dashed back towards the drawing room, careful to catch his breath, fixing his hair not to appear too windswept. He plopped down in the chair, just in time to see Lucius blinking in confusion

"What were we talking about? I seem to have lost track of the conversation" He frowned. It wasn't like him to zone out like that, especially around company.

"Don't worry – we've had a rough night. We were talking about our next move. You are going to continue being you. Arrogant snooty –" He waved around vaguely.

"Yes, yes, like my royal self" Lucius finished, rolling his eyes.

"Narcissa is going to continue our project and I'm going after those bastards." He gritted out.

"How very Gryffindor of you" Lucius noted.

Evan snorted. "There's nothing noble in what I'm going to do. I simply know I can't run forever. None of the sides are going to let me live, so I prefer to go out fast, rather than torturous." Evan shrugged.

Lucius briefly considered drugging his friend and throwing him on a deserted island, but both of them knew that there was a high risk that the Dark Lord could track them through the mark. He hated both their fathers just a little more then – they had thrown their families into this, with no consideration for their well-being and there was no way out.

He actually hoped the Order would find a way to end this, fast. Maybe his friend could find a way to stay alive then. Unfortunately, that meant they would most likely go to Azkaban instead and he didn't want to leave his wife and baby behind. He looked up as he heard the delicate footsteps of said wife entering the room.

"Draco is asleep. Ellie is watching him." She said quietly, as if she was still scared to wake the baby, even though he was on another floor and far down another corridor. She sat down next to him and slid a hand in one of his. Lucius turned and kissed her hair.

"I need another favour" Evan interrupted their tender moment, not quite ready to see something like that, without his own wife's hand to hold.

Evan grimaced. "I have an issue with a house elf."

Narcissa looked at him, perplexed "A house elf? How can one have a problem with a house elf, other than not having one?"

He scratched the back of his head again. "This one is different - unstable. Has been ever since we bought him. He truly has a mind of his own. We were never able to bond with him properly, and I suspect that has something to do with the predicament we're in now. I think he's already been bonded with another wizard and that this bond hasn't been properly severed. I'm almost certain that he has been working as a double agent of sorts and feeding information to his previous wizard. That's how the Order knew how to find us tonight and the reason Celeste went into labour and the reason I couldn't go to get Severus to help her." He sneered. "I want you to keep the elf and try to find out who owned him before. Find out who set us up, by any means necessary, but be careful around him. I think he can communicate somehow with his old owner."

"I've never heard of anything like that" Lucius frowned.

"Me neither, but he was conspicuously absent just before the attack started and I've always had a bad feeling about him. Celeste thinks… thought that I was crazy." Evan looked at the carpet, embarrassed at his slip up. He jumped when he felt Narcissas hand on his shoulder, not having noticed her moving from the other sofa.

Her eyes were hard "We will take him and never let him forget his place." Her voice was steel, and Evan almost felt himself shiver. He nodded

"I'm happy to hear that. I drew up a contract of ownership earlier, it's in my satchel. It just needs a magical signature from either of you, and then the bond will be transferred." He leaned down to retrieve the document and Lucius realised that his friend had plans on going sooner rather than later.

"I'll sign the document. What is the name of the elf?"

Evan nodded at him, looking grim. "Dobby."

He found the papers and put them on the small coffee table and Lucius went to get a quill and inkpot from a small bureau that stood in a corner. As he signed, the letters started glowing immediately, signifying the bond that was transferred to him, but the glow was dull and uneven – not like it was supposed to be. Lucius narrowed his eyes.

"We should start looking under 'magical bonds and contracts' in the library, Cissy."

Narcissa nodded thoughtfully. "We will start first thing tomorrow."

"I want to give Celeste, and the baby a proper burial, but then I'm off." Evan smiled ruefully.

Narcissa opened her mouth to protest, but Evan interrupted. "I need to do this. I thank you for all that you have done, but I need to go and at least try to exact my revenge. I might go down, but I'll take as many of them down with me as I can." He finished determinately.

Lucius nodded – he would probably do the same in his stead.

…

The sun was shining brightly, as if mocking them, as they stood in the gardens of Malfoy Manor. It was the smallest funeral Lucius had ever seen, with only himself, his wife and child and Evan attending. They had picked a beautiful spot near the rose bushes.

"Some day we will move her to your estate" Narcissa whispered, putting a hand on Evans shoulder. He was openly crying, his hand in fists.

The tombstone was very simple – something Lucius had cut from one of the many large pieces of marble that made one of the great walkways of the gardens. Evan himself had made the inscription in beautiful swirling letters.

 _Celeste and baby_

 _Thank you_

As Evan walked down the pathway leading back up to the main building, intent on going to the ministry and blasting the first Order member he saw to pieces, a letter arrived at a desk at Gringotts, containing the memories of Lucius and Narcissa and a marriage contract between Draco Lucius Malfoy and Hermione Rosier.


	4. Chapter 4

**I deeply apologise. It's been unacceptably long since I've updated anything – almost an entire year. Some things in my life happened and it's as if the trauma of it has killed my creativity, both in art, drawing and even cooking. I've vowed that I'll try to get it back. I'll need all the encouragement (and** _ **constructive**_ **criticism) I can get though, so please leave a review.**

 **Leo**

The night before November 2nd, 1981

The Malfoys learned about the fall of the Dark Lord, not through celebratory messages sent via owl from friends and loved ones, but rather from the Aurors, who were violently blasting apart the wards of the manor. They had prepared for this but discussing and rehearsing was something entirely different than feeling the rooms shake and seeing the angry sparks that burned the beautiful roses in the courtyard. The Aurors had already breached the outer wards by the time Lucius and Narcissa had woken up, and they were now far too close, considering how short time they had been there.

They had only just put on dressing robes over their night clothes and Narcissa had picked up Draco from his bed. Lucius grabbed Narcissas arm and started dragging her down the corridors to the entry hall towards the front door and the fireplace, where they arrived just in time to witness the ornate, centuries old door being blasted to pieces.

Narcissa screamed and tightened her hold on their son, crying into his blonde hair. Lucius stood ramrod straight, eyes glazed over with his hand still squeezing Narcissas arm hard.

"STAND BACK!" A gruff voice yelled, amplified by a sonorous charm.

Narcissa struggled against her husband, but he only crushed her arm harder. She whimpered and cried out, when Lucius was thrown backwards by a powerful Impedimenta. She made to go to him but was held back by a conjured shield.

"Hold it right there, Mrs Malfoy!" The same gruff voice sounded to her right. Not amplified anymore, but still yelling. "We have reason to believe your husband is under the Imperius"

She looked up at the man the voice belonged to and was startled by a grotesque sight. His face was littered with scars in all shapes and sizes, and equipped with a startlingly blue magical prosthetic eye, making it look more like a mask than anything human. She was especially nauseated and yet slightly proud to see the half-healed curse wound, where a part of the man's nose was missing. She had heard who had severed it and how he had died doing it. It took everything in her power not to curse the man next to her past the veil.

"What do you mean, Auror Moody?" she asked, wide-eyed, not needing an introduction. He had been in the papers enough after all. Seeing him in person up close was a very different thing though.

He regarded her calculatingly. "We've received information from a reliable source, that your husband has been involved in criminal activity –"

Narcissa gasped.

"- under the influence of the Imperius Curse" he finished gravely.

Narcissa rocked the baby who had started fussing as he had been startled awake by the loud yelling. "You must be mistaken." She whispered wetly into his white locks.

Alastor Moody narrowed his eyes, not buying her display of distress. But then again – there were many things he didn't buy. It wasn't without reason that people called him paranoid. He preferred the term 'vigilant' though.

Another Auror stepped through the rubble, running directly to Lucius who was starting to stand up. The Lord of the Manor was tied down with an Incarcerous and a Silencio and the Auror turned to greet Narcissa who instantly recognised the man with the receding hairline.

"Frank" She sighed in relief. "Please tell your partner that my husband is not some sort of criminal"

Frank Longbottom smiled sadly at her. "You heard Alastor. He was named by a reliable source, but if it's proven that he is under the influence of the Imperious curse, the sentence will probably be reduced"

"Probably reduced?!" She hissed. "If whatever he may or may not have done has been against his own free will, he shouldn't be punished _at all_ "

Frank looked at her nervously and started fidgeting. "That's not up to me Narcissa"

"Then who is it up to? The Wizengamot?" She pursed her mouth and narrowed her eyes.

Frank looked at her worriedly. "You haven't heard? The Dark Lord has fallen. They are making a special unit to expedite rounding up Death Eaters and sympathisers process them swiftly."

Narcissa felt herself shiver. That didn't exactly sound like the recipe for due process. She looked down at her husband who still lay on the floor, struggling against the conjured ropes. He looked furious now, yelling without sound.

"Can you perform the counter curse now?" she enquired, looking directly at Frank, purposely avoiding to even glance in the direction of the other Auror, lest she gave away the anger she felt at him, simmering just below the surface. She was very skilled at not showing her true thoughts, but sometimes even she would be so full of an emotion that it would boil over like a cauldron of Pepper-Up Potion left on the burner for too long.

The older Auror with missing nose huffed, obviously annoyed both at being ignored and the way his partner smiled reassuringly at the blonde woman.

"We should wait until we get him to the ministry." He growled. "Word is that he was inner circle. We ought to pump him full of Veritaserum until he spills the beans. If we lift the curse, he won't remember anything."

Narcissa was very close to rolling her eyes. "Surely, he wouldn't be privy to any sort of deep secrets that you don't already know. While it is hard and rare to do, it _is_ possible to fight it off and then go to the other side with information."

"But he might know who put him under the spell." He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her again and Narcissa forced herself to meet them. Both of them.

Narcissa felt a pit forming in her stomach.

Frank huffed "We don't have time for that Alastor. We have five more on the list we need to chase down" He pinched the bridge of his nose, obviously exhausted.

Moody frowned. "Fine!" He growled, obviously displeased. He nodded at Frank, who began the counter curse, waving his wand in intricate patterns, mumbling words so fast that Narcissa had no way of keeping up.

At the end of the spell, Lucius arched off the floor in a silent scream that made Narcissa gasp and cry. A purplish mist rose from his chest, dispersing in the air. When it was all over, Lucius slumped on the floor, unconscious.

Auror Moody looked almost disappointed that the spell worked and thus proving that Lucius had indeed been under the influence of the Imperius Curse.

"There will still be an investigation." He ground out.

He grabbed Frank by the upper arm and dragged him out the splintered front door, the younger man trying in vain to argue that they couldn't just leave the couple with one of them unconscious and the front door in splinters. Narcissa was happy to see them gone though. Doors were and easy fix, and she was not as incompetent a witch as she portrayed.

"Ellie!" she called out.

There was a crack as the house elf appeared in front of her.

"Please take Draco to his room and watch him" The little house elf bowed deeply before taking the littlest Master of the Manor ever so gently, cradling him in his blanket and walked calmly towards the grand staircase, opting not to apparate in fear of stirring the little thing.

Narcissa let her wand slide out of her sleeve, where it had been hidden during the entire encounter with the Aurors.

"Rennervate" she mumbled, kneeling next to her husband who blinked at her.

"Did it work?" He whispered.

She chuckled and got up. "It was close, but since we're not in Azkaban, I think we're somewhat in the clear."

"I can't believe you used an unforgivable on me" he grinned at her, standing up and offering her a hand "I forgive you"

He laughed as she swatted his arm.

…

They were not in the clear.

Two days later, there was a knock on the newly repaired front door. Lucius was waiting for Crabbe and Goyle Sr. to come by to discuss their business and how it would be affected by the Dark Lords fall and thus, the wards were somewhat down. The house elves knew who would be permitted access, and the rest they would consult the Master or the Mistress of the Manor about.

One who was not on the short list of pre-approved people was the Auror, Alastor Moody, so when the scarred piece of manure appeared in his study without warning along with another Auror, Lucius was startled, but soon caught himself.

"Lucius Malfoy, we are here to take you and Narcissa Malfoy to the Ministry for questioning regarding your involvement in activities in connection to your position amongst supporters of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. You will be placed in a holding cell and then moved to Azkaban awaiting trial." The scarred Auror smirked self-satisfied, doing a mockery of stating his official business.

"How can there be a trial scheduled, when the questioning has not even been held yet?" Lucius enquired, his left eyebrow rising slightly.

Moody sneered nastily and grabbed Lucius by the arm and twisted it around his back. He pushed the point of his wand hard into his spine. His partner disarmed him with a spell.

"I don't care if you were under a spell, Malfoy" The Auror grunted into his ear. "It doesn't prove anything to me. If you really wanted to, you could throw it off. You didn't, so that must mean you liked doing what you did."

Lucius could smell the Fire whiskey from the night before, mixed with stale coffee on the man's sour breath. It was enough to make him gag.

"The Ministry would like to put all this messy business behind them as fast as possible. Now where is that lovely wife of yours, Malfoy?" Moody growled. He conjured rope and used it to tie Lucius' hands behind his back and marched him out of the study, his wand still digging into his back, sure to leave a couple of bruises.

Lucius reluctantly led them towards the nursery, where Narcissa was walking around with Draco on her arm, showing him all the magical creatures painted on the wallpaper. The warm feeling Lucius would normally feel at such a sight was unfortunately absent due to the threat. Now, all he felt was a cold pit of fear and fury as he saw how Moody's partner looked at her, up and down. The mousy-haired man with the pock-marred face, smirked at Narcissa.

"'Ello Mrs. Malfoy"

She turned around, startled. "Hello?" She said, uncertain as she certainly wasn't used to see anyone other than herself and her husband in the nursery. All visits were contained to the Drawing room or Draco's playroom. She didn't put Draco down, but hugged him tighter to her chest. The man was making her distinctly uncomfortable. She looked at Moody "Where is Frank?"

Moody frowned. "It was decided that he couldn't be counted on to be unbiased."

Narcissa scoffed. "And what is the _real_ reason?"

"He refused to make the arrest. The bloody Hufflepuff" the other Auror snorted.

Narcissa raised an eyebrow and hugged Draco tighter, shifting him around so she could have easier access to her wand. "And who exactly is getting arrested?"

The mousy-haired Auror's smile turned predatory as he stalked towards her. She slipped her wand out of her sleeve and hastily cast a shield charm.

The man put up his hands placating her "Aww don't be like that Mrs. Malfoy." Then he swiftly drew his own wand and broke through the charm easily.

"You won't be needing that – _Expelliarmus_!" He smirked as her wand went flying to be gripped by Moody.

"You won't be needing that either" He grinned, making a grab for the child in her arms. She turned around, so Draco was out of his reach, but he managed to grip her hair, ripping it hard so her head was pulled backwards, and she gasped in pain.

"Cissy!" Lucius yelled, struggling against Moody.

The man now grabbed her upper arm and started pulling it backwards, making her loose her grip on their precious boy, almost dropping him.

"Ellie!" She screamed.

The elf popped into the room and managed to catch the small child just as he fell. She popped out directly, taking Draco to safety.

The Auror now yanked her arm back violently and knocked her face into the wall, giving her a nosebleed. "That's what you get for resisting, you bitch. Unfortunately, we don't have time for more _fun_ activities at the moment, but I might come to visit you in your cell." He said into her ear, looking straight at Lucius who looked ready to burst with hatred.

Narcissa was bound similarly to her husband and they were pushed down the corridors towards the fireplace in the entrance hall and taken to the Ministry.

…

The interviews were a joke. They were over in twenty minutes and they were sent directly to Azkaban afterwards, awaiting "trial"

Lucius held no hope for a fair one of those. It was painfully obvious how desperate the Ministry was to seem efficient and in control. Luckily, Lucius had prepared and had paid the right people the right amount of money and they were acquitted. They had spent three days in the desolate prison though, and even such a short amount of time had taken its toll. He dreaded to think what a year could do.

Narcissa had taken the time there especially bad. The separation from their son and her inability to protect him, haunted her constantly, amplified a hundred times due to the presence of the dementors. It was as if they had seeped into her very bones, chilled them and made them impossible to warm up again. When they returned to the Manor, she wouldn't be separated from their son, even to take a bath. She vowed to keep him close, always and to protect him no matter the consequences.

Upon their arrival, a dozen elves stood ready with all things chocolate. They had made chocolate cake, chocolate cookies, chocolate mousse, chocolate cheesecake, chocolate truffles, chocolate bars and hot chocolate. Lucius drew the line when they served the chocolate covered ham. The elves were still happy though because it had still managed to put a smile on their faces.

Slowly, life moved on, as it tends to do. Lucius went back to working with their accounts, trying as hard as he could to tidy up the damage that had been done by their involvement with the Dark Lord. He found several disturbing things though, that could not be undone. His father had thrown all their assets in with the Death Eaters and he wasn't the only one who had avoided prison. Crabbe and Goyle Sr. were walking free. Macnair was on probation, though how that lunatic wasn't given the kiss, Lucius would never know. He was dependent on all of them, for many years to come, which meant that his charade as being a muggle-hating piece of shit was not over. Narcissa resumed her work with the muggleborns, but still in secret. What bothered Lucius more than anything though, was the way Moody and his associate, who he had learned was Auror Savage (a suitable name in Lucius' opinion), had appeared in his study without warning. They should have been stopped at the door by the elves. As a minimum they should have been announced, but they just showed up, taking him by surprise. It was a mystery he vowed to solve.

Draco grew up ridiculously spoiled. Narcissa could never take his tears, real or fake. It tugged at her heart and her conscience, the way they had abandoned never really leaving her. Lucius tried to hold back, but hardly ever succeeded. She had always been a force of nature, but motherhood had turned her downright supernatural.


	5. Chapter 5

Ahoi me hearties!

One thing that's been brought to my attention is the age of Hermione. I realise that I wrote it, so Hermione is born in 1980 instead of 1979. In my country, we go to school with kids who were born the same year as us – I was born in '87 and all the kids I went to school with were also born in '87.

This chapter is a bit different. It consists of snapshots of the Malfoy household until Draco starts Hogwarts, so a bit of a rather fluffy filler. I hope you enjoy though.

Please leave a review and let me know what you think.

 **June 1984**

Draco was lying under the covers. He was pretending to sleep, so his parents could come to wake him up. He had been lying there for what seemed to be forever, wiggling his toes. He had his dragon and his blanket to keep him company though. His father had said that he was too big to sleep with his blanket, but he had sworn never to part with it. It might get lonely, lying in a drawer or a cabinet somewhere. Besides, it was a beautiful thing with his very own monogram. Mother had designed his monogram herself at his birth. He was letting his small fingers run over the smooth stitches in emerald green that made out the letter "D" – the first letter he had learned. He knew five letters so far, but his governess insisted that it wasn't enough. He ran over the letter "M" next, carefully embroidered in silver thread, as a background to the "D". The writing had so many loops it reminded him of the grapevines, with tendrils curling themselves around the pergola in the back of the gardens, where he would go in the autumn to eat grapes until he got a bad stomach.

He heard the door open and he imagined his parents carefully tiptoeing across his room, which was still somewhat dark due to the heavy drapes covering the windows. He laid very still, which was hard when he was almost trembling with anticipation.

Suddenly, there was a bump and a splash.

"AAARGH! DRACO LUCIUS MALFOY!" His mother screeched and his father cursed.

He quickly turned around to see observe the scene before him and he burst out laughing.

Both his parents had fallen into his trap. He had carefully strung out a tripwire and rigged it to a large bucket of water, which he had hung from the ceiling with the help of his favourite house elf, Ellie.

Father was trying to get up from his position on the floor, but was struggling against Mother, who had fallen on top of him.

He laughed even harder, watching them trying to right themselves and failing because they kept slipping when trying to get up.

 **May 1986**

"Faaaaather!" Draco whisper yelled. He was walking through the manor, his shoes making a squelching sound with each step. His wet pants were starting to chafe in uncomfortable places. He could summon an elf, but didn't want to because they were the ones, he had been running away from in the first place.

They had been trying to keep him in his rooms, but it was boring, so when he had seen the big puddle gathering from the rain in the gardens through the window, he had given the elves the slip. It was ridiculously easy too. He had told them he wanted to play hide and seek, but instead of counting, and finding the hidden elves, he had simply left through the doors.

He had put his shoes on in the cloakroom – the fancy ones his mother had gotten for him in Paris. He liked them because they were shiny. Slowly and with as much stealth as a 5-year old could muster, he had snuck through the reception hall, through the drawing room and the solarium and out a small hidden door to the terrace. From there, he had run down the steps to the immaculate pathways. Any outsider would have gotten lost in seconds but having spent every second he could in the gardens, he knew each and every turn. He had greeted every plant and flower on his way, as was his habit. His mother spent a great amount of time in the gardens and had taught him the names of all the flowers – it was only proper for a young man to learn about flowers, she had told him. Or else he might end up sending his beloved something as thoughtless and unimaginative as red roses. Uncle Severus had taught him the names of all the plants he used in his potions – because apparently it was only proper for the godson of a potions master to know all the plants in the greenhouse, their properties, the method of preparing them and in which potions they were used.

When he had found his destination – the large puddle, in the corner of one of the pathways to the greenhouses, he slowed to a stop, admiring it. It was more glorious than he had thought, looking at it from his window. The first jump was so big that the water splashed all the way out onto the pathway. He had felt the water filling his fancy shoes, but he hadn't cared. On the fifth jump, he had slipped and fallen on his bum, his pants and underwear getting soaked in the icy water. He had gotten out of the puddle, slipping again in the process and falling on his stomach.

Covered in mud from head to toe, he had waddled back towards the house, where he was now searching for his father. He was moving down the east wing where his father's study was located and jumped, when the door was slammed open. A large man, with a balding head, strolled out of his fathers' study, laughing at a joke Draco had missed. His father followed; his smile stiff. The smile disappeared however, when he took in Draco's appearance. The other man roared with laughter

"Oi Malfoy! Give 'im a mop of red hair and you got yourself a Weasley! You sure that Arthur hasn't been by to visit your wife?"

Draco's fathers' eyes glittered dangerously, but rather than giving the man a scolding for being rude, his father just smirked.

"Now now, Goyle. I'm sure that you didn't mean to offend both the most ancient and noble Houses of Black _and_ Malfoy by insinuating such crassness." He said mildly. He smirked wider, when the other man started fumbling.

"No, I mean... I didn't mean…"

"Easy, Goyle. Don't hurt yourself with all that thinking." Draco's father rolled his eyes.

Goyle Sr. huffed. He knew he wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but even _he_ knew when he was being insulted. "Well, maybe you should bring the boy around sometime, Malfoy. We have little Greg, I'm sure they could have fun and we'll set both of them on the _right_ path. Away from all that mud." He sneered at Draco.

"Perhaps" Lucius shrugged. "Mimsy!" He called.

The elf appeared with a crack and her already large eyes widened even more when she saw the state Draco was in.

"Please show mister Goyle out. I need to have a word with Draco." His father looked at him pointedly and he had the good sense to look ashamed.

Mimsy hastily grabbed Goyle Sr's pant leg and apparated him out, leaving father and son alone in the corridor.

His father scowled at him. "Draco, do you know who the Weasleys are?"

Draco shrugged, not knowing.

"They are a wizarding family – pureblood like us, but the blood is the only thing pure about them. They are poor but insist on having endless amounts of children even though they can't provide for them. You embarrassed me today Draco. I'm very disappointed in you."

Draco started crying, but his father didn't hold him or kiss his cheeks as he normally would when he had skinned his knee or missed his mother, and that was the moment, when Draco realised that disappointing his father was the worst thing he could ever do.

"Merlins beard, Draco." His father huffed after a while, uncomfortably. "Have you even seen yourself?"

Draco hiccupped and shook his head. His father took out his wand and transfigured the door to his study to a mirror. Draco gasped when he saw his mud streaked face. Only a few strands of blond hair stuck out, but most of his scalp was brown. In fact, _he_ was brown. His skin, his clothes and his hair. His jumper had been emerald with cool dragons flying around. All the dragons were now cowering on a small patch of the jumper on his shoulder, that was still clean. He couldn't help but snort at the dragons that were supposed to be fierce.

" _Aguamenti_ "

Suddenly he was hit by a small jet of water on the side of the cheek and he looked up at his father in surprise. His father laughed at his expression but rose his wand again. "We need to wash you, Draco" he grinned.

Draco's eyes widened and he took off down the hall in a sprint squealing with delight, trying to get away from his father who ran after him, shooting jets of water at him.

The elves were very happy to do the clean-up. It made them feel better after being duped by the young master.

Later in the evening, Lucius sat in his study, reflecting on the meeting he had with Goyle Sr. He had poured himself a large tumbler of firewhiskey. His father had always told him that muggles were weak and inferior – positively primitive. They were pests that ought to be controlled and exterminated, to make way for wizardkind to grow. He knew the muggles weren't primitive, but he had severely underestimated how far they had come in their endeavours to develop their community. It seemed to him though, that they had gotten cocky and, in their attempt, to create something magical, they had doomed a large portion of their own population. It was horrifying, but worst of all – a lot of wizards had died too. Where had been a rather large wizarding enclave by the Pripyat River in Ukraine. They had been taken by surprise, when their people had started getting sick and dying – the wizarding town had been completely razed. Some of the old allies of the Dark Lord, had contacted Goyle and demanded help from their group in gaining retribution against the muggles who had let the disaster happen, and then the muggle government who knew about the existence of the wizarding community, but had failed to warn them of the disaster. What especially worried him was the news that what had happened in Ukraine, had happened in a relatively safe facility. Apparently, the muggles had also managed to weaponize the stuff, making it possible to doom not only mugglekind, but all of mankind. Wizards would not survive such an attack – this disaster proved as much.

Lucius let his head fall against his desk chair and sighed. He would have a meeting with the angry wizards in two days' time and hopefully be able to convince them that muggle slaughter was pointless. It would be far more beneficial to all of them to gain justice by kicking the responsible people from their place in power. It would be a challenge, but this Communist Party would fall. They would make sure of it.

He smiled slightly, when he heard the light footsteps of his wife in the hallway, no doubt looking for him. Sure enough, the door to his study opened slowly and Narcissa smiled gently at him.

"I had to give Draco a Pepper-up before putting him to bed. Otherwise he would surely have a cold tomorrow."

Lucius cringed "You know how I feel about snotty noses"

Narcissa laughed and it filled him with warmth.

 **August 1988**

"Tell me again why we let Draco socialise with those two trolls? I really don't like them."

"I know you don't, Cissy, but what choice do we have? For some reason he likes them, and their fathers are very insistent for them to spend time together."

A frown marred Narcissas otherwise perfect face. An expression not many had the luxury of witnessing since she always stowed away her feelings when in company. The married couple were sitting in front of the fire, discussing their son's so-called friends. "They're a horrible influence on Draco. He's smart, but he's still a child. He's impressionable. They're bullies and they're rubbing off on him. Just yesterday I saw him trying to kick Ellie."

Lucius smirked. "And what did Ellie do?"

"She apparated away and Draco fell on his bottom." Narcissa huffed and rolled her eyes. "But that's hardly the point. He is turning into a bully and it's their influence. That Vincent Crabbe is particularly vicious."

Lucius looked at her apologetically. "I can't just cut them away. We are still tied down by the contract for another ten years." Lucius sighed "I'm certain that Draco will be fine. He might be assertive, but once he starts seeing other children at Hogwarts, he will mellow. I'm sure of it."

Narcissa rubbed her forehead. "That's still a long time away. He's a right terror now – imagine how he will be at eleven."

"Maybe we should consider Durmstrang? That way he will be completely separated from Crabbe and Goyle when the time comes."

"Absolutely not!" Narcissas voice left no room for discussion as she returned to the book in her lap. Hogwarts felt far away, but Durmstrang might as well have been on another planet.

"I don't know what you want me to do, Cissy" He smiled sadly at her.

She sighed and bit her lip. "Maybe we should find another sort of activity for him? Something that would prevent him from coming with you, but something that would distract him from them as well."

Lucius pursed his lips. "When I was about Draco's age, I received my first potion's kit. Do you think Severus would agree to tutor Draco, just every once in a while? Coincidentally the times when I have to meet with Crabbe and Goyle?"

Narcissa smirked. "Leave Sev to me. I just wish he had someone else to play with. He needs other children his own age."

Lucius sighed. "I suppose Nott has a son about Draco's age. And then there's the Bulstrodes, the Greengrasses and the Parkinsons in our circles" He shrugged.

"I would say that any son of Nott's is bound to be a prejudiced little delinquent, but it can hardly get any worse than the hooligans he's hanging around now. Scratch the other three off the list – they all have girls and they'll only see in as an invitation to a betrothal contract. I just wish we weren't limited to "our circles" if you want to put it that way." She huffed.

Lucius raised a brow at her "What do you have in mind?"

"Some of the children I meet are absolutely amazing. I have met two, who will be in Draco's year." She gushed

"Muggleborns?"

She rolled her eyes "Yes, muggleborns, Lucius, do keep up. One is a boy – very intelligent and ever so polite, but there's a girl – she is sharp as a whip and she has such a thirst and enthusiasm for knowledge. She wants to know everything there is to know about the world she's going to enter. I truly wish things were different – I wish I could bring her to the manor and dote on her and let her loose in the library and the archives, if only to see her face light up the way it does when I bring her a new book on my visits." She grinned at him.

Lucius smiled softly. "I know you always wanted a girl, Cissy, but it doesn't do to kidnap other people's children"

She slapped his chest lightly "Oh, hush. You'd want to keep her too if you met her. I can't place it, but she somehow reminds me of someone."

Lucius grabbed her hand and kissed it. "Maybe we'll meet her some day in Diagon Alley or the Hogwarts Express and you can point them out to me, but we can't acknowledge them until the contract runs out."

 **August 1990**

"Ow!" Draco put his finger in his mouth and frowned at the offending instrument that had seen it fit to cut him. The silver knife laid on the cutting board, looking all innocent, but Draco knew better.

"Tsk – Draco." Uncle Severus admonished, but healed the poor index finger anyways.

"You should be more careful with your blood, Draco."

"I know" Draco nodded. "Because it's so pure, it shouldn't go to waste"

Uncle Severus raised an eyebrow at him. "Don't be an idiot Mr. Malfoy."

Draco looked at him confusedly "What do you mean, Uncle Sev?"

"You should be more careful with your blood, not because it's pure, but because it's yours. If someone gets a hold of it, they could potentially use it against you. They could use it to control you, they could use it to locate you, they could even use it in a love potion."

Draco snorted "Love potion?"

"Imagine for a second that Pansy Parkinson or Milicent Bulstrode had some of your blood. They could force you to love them forever – to marry them and give them the entire Malfoy fortune."

Draco looked at his Godfather in horror, cradling his finger close to his chest.

"I'll be more careful Uncle Sev."

Severus Snape nodded with a satisfied smirk, but inside, he was worried about his godson. Blood was precious certainly, magical blood more so, but no kind of magical blood was worth more than another kind. He hoped that the boy wasn't going down a path he, himself had been on a long time ago. That road would only take him towards heart ache.


	6. Chapter 6

January 1st, 1991

"Shit!" Draco exclaimed in fright when he stumbled into the figure huddled outside his bedroom door. "Theo?" He asked, recognising the boy's stature and floppy brown hair. They weren't good friends by any stretch – Theo preferred to keep to himself when they met at functions with their families, where Draco preferred to sneak off to do something stupid with Vince and Greg. So, he was surprised to see Theo sitting next to the door, leaning against the wall at 4 o'clock in the morning. He had woken up, needing to pee but had heard a sound coming from the hallway on the way back to his bed from his ensuite.

Theo groaned "You kiss your mother with that mouth, Malfoy?"

Draco rolled his eyes, even though the other boy wouldn't be able to see it in the dark. "What are you doing here Theo?" He asked.

Theo shifted and hissed, apparently in pain "Can't I just come to visit a friend?"

"We're not friends and it's the middle of the night." Draco deadpanned.

The other boy sighed. "I didn't know where else to go." He admitted. "Some of dads friends are ' _visiting'_ and they had a New Years party. I didn't appreciate the ' _entertainment_ '"

Draco frowned. He had heard Theo's dad being mentioned when adults thought he wasn't listening. Generally, people weren't saying nice things about the man, but he didn't know if what they were saying was true or not. "Well, uh. Do you want to come inside then?" He shifted a little, insecure about the entire situation. What is the etiquette for when your not-friend breaks into your house?

Theo snorted. "If you'll help me get in."

Draco frowned even harder. Theo tried to get up but huffed and collapsed again. Draco went to help him up, by supporting him from the side. "Careful, I think I've got a couple of broken ribs on that side" Theo remarked casually.

What the in the world?

"Ellie!" Draco whisper-shouted.

Ellie appeared with a muffled crack. "Young master?" she squeaked.

Draco huffed "can you please help me get Theo inside?"

"Master is not wanting Ellie to call the older master and mistress?" Ellie frowned suspiciously.

Theo's head snapped up in panic. "No! No parents! And I'm not going to Saint Mungo's either"

"But you're badly hurt! What if it's worse than it looks and you have internal bleeding or something like that? I can't have you dying in my room!" Draco hissed in disbelief.

Theo snorted. "I've had worse. And trust me, I don't have internal bleeding, I know how that feels"

Ellie snapped her fingers and Theo was transported inside, relieving Draco of the other boy's weight. He couldn't help but wonder exactly how messed up his not-friend's home-life was and decided that maybe the boy was more in need of a real friend rather than a not-friend.

Draco walked into his private sitting room, where Theo was lying on one of the sofas. He huffed "where does it hurt?" he asked with a pretend long-suffering sigh.

Theo smiled at him and now that they were away from the darkness of the hall, Draco saw that his teeth were stained red and that he had several bruises on his face that was swollen from who knew how many hits he had taken.

Draco sighed for real, silently thanking his godfather for training him well. He might not have a wand, but he did have a fully stocked potions cabinet. "I'll go get my kit" he said with an uncharacteristically gentle smile.

July 31st, 1991

Draco hated visiting Madam Malkin's. The woman was friendly enough, but she smelled like cheese and it was dreadfully boring to stand there while being fitted. He didn't even know why he needed to get his robes fitted. Madam Malkin had all his measurements, surely, they would do. But no – because his mother was in charge of the clothing-part of his school equipment and of course he might have grown a couple of inches since last month when he was fitted for a set of dress robes to wear for Summer Solstice, but what were the odds of that?

He had been standing, bored out of his mind, when he heard the bell over the door jingle. Madam Malkin went to speak to the newcomer and Draco's hands started to feel sweaty when he heard the voice of a boy confirming that he too was going to Hogwarts. It wasn't a voice he knew, so he had to make an entirely new impression. It had to be good – he had to be cool, collected and superior. The one that everyone would want to be friends with.

… He failed. Spectacularly. He could hear himself blabbering and blabbering on and on and could practically hear his father's voice telling him to calm down and stop talking nonsense, but he couldn't hold himself back. He was nervous – much more than he anticipated and it had been incredibly awkward. He hoped he would do better at Hogwarts, otherwise he would be an embarrassment to the Malfoy name.

September 1st, 1991

Draco was bouncing on his feet entire morning. He was so full of nervous and excited energy that his 11-year old body simply couldn't contain it. He was constantly fidgeting – something his mother hated. Especially in public. For that reason, he had been clenching his hands ever since they had left the Manor. He wouldn't be surprised if he had marks in his palms from his nails. Never mind butterflies – he had giant bat-like creatures flapping around in his stomach. They were walking down the platform, the trolley with his trunk following slightly behind them, guided by his father's wand. He noticed that they drew the attention of many people there and they were looking at them with different kinds of expressions. Some observed them with something akin to awe, some with envy and some outright glared at them. He knew his family was either respected, revered or despised. He sneered back at the ones who were glaring.

As he looked around, he saw several children being hugged to death by their parents, and he was infinitely grateful that he and his parents had gotten that kind of sentiment out of the way _before_ they left for the station. He didn't think he would be able to take the embarrassment, but that didn't mean he wanted to go without if. He was eleven years old, but even almost-adults like him could appreciate a tearful hug from his mother. Even the ones that lasted for several minutes. He'd prefer that it wasn't displayed in front of other people though, and his parents were the same. Tears, or bursts of emotions were best kept in private. You never knew who would use that kind of vulnerability against you. He definitely knew that _he_ was taking note of all the ones who were being crushed against their mother's chest.

The train ride was boring to say the least. He, Greg and Vince had intimidated some second years into giving up their compartment. Odds were that they had heard of his family before and knew better than to argue.

He had just sent his friends off to find the trolley to buy some candy, when the oddest thing happened. A girl his age, wearing a Hogwarts first year uniform, opened the door to the compartment. She was so deeply engrossed in a book she was reading at the same time as she was walking, so she didn't even see him sitting there.

He knew that he had a tendency to shut the world out when he was focusing on potions, but this girl had reached a whole new level of concentration he had never seen before. It was honestly fascinating. But Malfoys don't stare, so he stopped himself doing just that and leaned back in his seat, making sure to look as relaxed and confident as possible before clearing his throat. He looked at her amusedly, as her large brown eyes snapped to his in surprise. She recovered quickly though. "Oh! Hello" she beamed at him and he found her smile infectious. He could feel his smirk tugging into a smile. She returned to her book quickly though.

"What can I do for you?" he inquired, wondering what she was doing in _his_ compartment.

The girl shrugged "Nothing right now, thank you, but it's nice of you to offer your services" she said with a small smile, not even looking at him. Draco frowned.

"What are you reading that had taken your attention so much that you hardly notice your surroundings?

"Chemistry" she told him excitedly. "I'm really curious to see if any of the principles can be used in potions"

Draco was confused. "Chemistry?" he raised an eyebrow at her, trying his best to channel his father's scepticism.

The girl sat up straighter "Are you a pureblood?" She inquired, her head tilted slightly to the left.

Draco sneered "I take it you're not"

"Ah. You're one of _those_ " She rolled her eyes, closed her book and stood, moving towards the door.

He frowned at her, grabbed her arm, and stood up too, grateful that he was taller than her. "One of which?" he practically growled.

She met his eyes head on and had the audacity to smirk. "One of those who think they know everything, but really only know one half of the equation." She pulled her arm out of his grip and left. She just walked out calmly, without looking back. He found himself irritated that she hadn't reacted more. He had hoped to throw her off kilter, maybe make her so angry that she would slam the door, or maybe cry. But neither happed and he definitely felt like he had lost that round. He hadn't even gotten her name.

He watched her get sorted at the ceremony. Hermione Granger. Obviously a mudblood and naturally in Gryffindor with all the blood traitors. He sneered in her direction, even though she wasn't looking at him.

December 1991

"I swear, if I hear another word about Harry Potter, that Granger girl or the Weasley-clan, the Malfoy line will die out because I might strangle my only heir" Lucius rubbed his face tiredly as the couple went to bed.

Narcissa snorted inelegantly. "He does complain quite frequently"

"With all the sweets and extravagant gifts, he received, he still has it in him to complain that Potter has that broom or that the Granger girl has that book. At least he isn't envious of the redheaded runt, I don't think I could bear that."

He plopped down so heavily on the bed that pillows fell in several directions.

Narcissa pursed her lips "No, he might not be envious, but he is mocking him something awful. I know you and Arthur don't see eye to eye and Morgana knows I question their choices and their knowledge of the contraception charm, but that shouldn't have any influence on the children"

Lucius sneered "From my understanding, Draco is simply giving as good as he gets."

"You can't possibly be that naïve. He might be on the receiving end of some hexes or harsh words, but I have no doubt that he is provoking them. He's only gotten more arrogant with age and with those two baboons by his side, egging him on, there's really no telling what he might be up to, with low supervision." She looked pointedly at him. The "I told you so" was just at the tip of her tongue.

Lucius rolled his eyes and waved her off "Severus will keep an eye on him"

Narcissa scoffed "Severus is the most biased man I have ever met. He adores Draco and would let him get away with murder if asked."

Lucius shrugged. "He is his godfather after all. That's what godfathers are for – hiding the bodies."

June 1992

Draco wanted to kill someone. He knew without a shadow of a doubt, that that trio of misfits had broken probably hundreds of school rules that each would warrant expulsion, but what happens? They get rewarded. Ridiculously so. His father really is right, Dumbledore is the worst thing that had ever happened to this school. And they said that uncle Sev was biased.

He sat, silently fuming and he hadn't realised he was trembling with rage until he felt a hand on his shoulder, giving it a hard squeeze and releasing it again. He turned towards Theo who was looking pointedly at him and they had a silent conversation. He relaxed a little. He didn't want to look like a petulant child. Who cared about a stupid house cup anyway?

 **Another chapter down, quite a few more to go.**

 **Please write a review, it keeps me writing on 3**


	7. Chapter 7

July 1992

"But she's a mudblood, father! It isn't fair!" Draco stomped his foot.

Lucius rolled his eyes but didn't bother correcting his son's foul language. "Have you considered that maybe the girl spends more time studying, than getting into trouble? Or that maybe opening 'Magical Theory' or 'The Standard book of spells' might be better than reading 'Quidditch Through the Ages' for the hundredth time?"

"She's getting into enough trouble with those two halfwits" the blonde boy mumbled angrily.

"I'm sorry?" Lucius asked, with a raised eyebrow.

Draco huffed. "She shouldn't even be allowed into the school. You think so too."

Lucius pinched the bridge of his nose "Where did you get that idea?"

"Mr. Goyle told me. You were all followers of the Dark Lord. And I saw you have their mark on your arm. The Death Beaters" Draco looked challenging at his father; his arms crossed over his chest.

"- Eaters, Draco. Eaters. The Death Beaters are a Canadian Quidditch team" Lucius rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"So, you don't deny it then?"

Lucius sighed heavily. "Son. These are very complicated matters. You wouldn't understand- "

"I understand plenty." Draco jutted out his pointy chin. "You were working to protect the wizarding world." He was swelling with pride at the idea that his father was some sort of brave knight on a crusade to liberate the wizarding world from some obscure threat.

"Well, I- " Lucius struggled to explain. He couldn't very well tell the boy the truth. That he had been undermining the Dark Lord's work from the inside, that he considered the Muggle-borns part of the wizarding world too. His son was much too involved with the Crabbe- and Goyle households, and he knew Draco to be a blabbermouth. He couldn't tell him that he, under pretence of being a school governor, had been snooping in the Book of Admittance and that his mother had been visiting Muggle-borns like the Granger girl and the Finch-Fletchley boy under disguise since they were small and that he in fact knew that the girl was extremely studious and most likely deserved her place at the top more than Draco. He realised he had a part to play as the bigot, lest he alienated his business partners, but doing so in front of his own son plagued him to no end. Unfortunately, it was either that or raising said son home- and penniless. The contract his own father had signed with the other followers of the Dark Lord was tied to the Manor, all its contents and the entire Malfoy fortune. Should he be kicked out of the contract by a unanimous vote, everything would be lost.

"That was a very long time ago, Draco. I forbid you to talk about it" He looked down at his son imperiously.

Draco smiled at him, apparently interpreting things a bit differently than intended.

Lucius cursed internally. Narcissa had been right. Those two idiot friends of his were a bad influence, but he couldn't forbid him to see them without offending their fathers. He had to try to distract his son in another way.

"Draco, I expect you to do better with your studies from now on."

The boy sighed and looked down "Yes father"

"I also realise you want to try out for your house quidditch team, so if you study hard during the day, I will allow you to practice at the pitch in the gardens in the afternoon." Lucius smirked when he saw his son's expression brightening. "And should you manage to get onto the Slytherin House team, using your old broom, I will even buy you the new Nimbus 2001. In fact, I will buy one for the entire team."

"Really?" Draco breathed, wide eyed and practically vibrating with excitement.

"So, you better get to the library boy! I will send a list with books." Lucius pointed at the stairs leading to the expansive library and chuckled when his son ran, taking the stairs three steps at the time.

His smile faded though, when he remembered his own task for the next days. The Ministry had passed a new law that incidentally also allowed Arthur Weasley to come to "visit" unannounced – something he frequently took advantage of. So far, he had found nothing, but it was only a matter of time before the cretin would be lucky enough to stumble across some of the more dubious items his father had left behind. Strangely though, an item had gone missing since the ginger menace's last raid, but nothing was ever mentioned, and no report was written. It puzzled him still. Considering the hatred, the two held for each other and the way that Arthur had torn through the library like a niffler through Gringotts, one would think that he couldn't wait to shout to the world that Lucius Malfoy was storing some of the darkest artefacts known to man. He had briefly considered that maybe he was keeping it for blackmail, but he quickly dismissed it. The Weasleys were the very definition of Gryffindors, in Lucius' own opinion at least. Reckless, hot headed, stubborn and much too sanctimonious for something like blackmail.

He sneered, thinking about the oaf who, despite being slow in the head, managed to make his life difficult.

But if he hadn't nicked that book, then who had? That thought filled his mind as he trawled through the manor, taking inventory of all the shit that had accumulated through the centuries. They had entire rooms that would be bare of furniture when he was done. In fact, he might have to demolish the entire East wing.

…

September 1992

He had made it! He had done it! He had made it onto the team on his old Silver Arrow and now his father had sent seven brand new Nimbus 2001 for the entire team. Draco had never been so proud in his life as when he was walking on his way down to his first training for the Slytherin Quidditch Team. His thoughts were interrupted though, when he heard the annoyingly Scottish accent of the Gryffindor captain. "You've got a new seeker? Where?"

Draco pushed past his much larger teammates with a confident smirk, careful to turn the broom just so, so the "Nimbus 2001" was clearly on display. He was only half-listening to his captain who was bragging about the new brooms, but when he saw Potters pet and the Granger girl he couldn't help but pitch in with the boasting, even if he knew he shouldn't. He could practically hear his father's voice; ' _Malfoys don't boast, Draco. They simply don't need to.'_ But it was hard not to, when he was so good at it!

"Perhaps the Gryffindor team will be able to raise some gold and get new brooms, too. You could raffle off those Cleansweep fives, I expect a museum would bid for them." He taunted with glee, taking in the reactions from all the Gryffindors.

"At least no one from the Gryffindor team had to _buy_ their way in. _They_ got in on pure talent" Granger snarked back. She was good. He hated to admit it, even if it was only to himself, but she was good. He couldn't let her win this round though, but he didn't have any good comebacks that wouldn't make him sound like a petulant child, so he drew his trump card.

"No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood" He sneered.

The effect was instantaneous. The entire Gryffindor team was in uproar and so was the Weasel. Oddly enough, the only one who didn't react was Granger. At first he thought that maybe she didn't understand what it meant, but then he saw the fire in her eyes and the tiniest smirk and he knew that he had lost again. Then the moment was over, when Weasel tried to curse him, with a spell that sounded made up, which even backfired on himself. Granger hurried to Weasel's aid and he couldn't help but resent her a little for it.

…

December 1992

Dumbledore was off his rocker. How the irresponsible old madman managed to justify keeping the school running with the Chamber open, he might never know. His own son didn't seem to be faring much better sanity-wise. He kept writing letter after letter, speculating about the identity of the heir and praising them in more and more ridiculous ways. He was still young and naïve and didn't quite grasp the severity. He had never lost a loved one and had never seen a dead person. Lucius had seen enough death to last several lifetimes and wanted to protect his son as much as possible, but the little idiot seemed to think it was a game of sorts.

He felt trapped. By this point, living on the streets seemed almost preferable to keep up appearances, but he justified his own actions by telling himself that soon there would only be five years left of the contract. Five short years and the Knights of Walpurgis could kiss his pasty arse. As it were, he and his wife were trying to compensate for their lies by helping every Muggleborn they could find.

Narcissa had been busy ever since he became a school governor because it gave him access to the book of admittance. Before, they had managed to find a child here and there – he had been receiving information from a "friend" at the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad, but it was far from all magical children that displayed such powerful accidental magic, that the Squad was needed. Even when deployed, the Squad were only to reverse the magic to protect the Statute of Secrecy, but never to be seen by others and thus never offering explanations to the families or helping to ensure that it would not happen again. Now, they had access to the names of all the muggleborns and Narcissa visited all the families regularly from the children were toddlers. She had even insisted on giving the families enchanted coins that they could use to contact her – they would have to draw on the children's magic, and when the children held their coin in their hands and thought of her, the engravings on her coin would change to reveal which child needed her help with either controlling accidental magic or answering questions about the wizarding world. She would then hurry to change her appearance – the colour of her hair turning wavy and chestnut brown, her nose turning slightly upwards, her chin softening. Then she would put on muggle clothes (They had an entire wardrobe hidden in the attic – why they would need so much, he would never understand, but apparently fashion is fashion and one must always look their best).

Lucius felt he never got to see his wife anymore and sometimes questioned if it was worth it to continue with the project, but then she would come home with the brightest smile and tell him about "her children" and the trouble they got into with their accidental magic, the questions they asked about things that they had always taken for granted themselves. She cared a great deal for them, and he could never take that away. They had been unable to have any more children of their own, so his wife relished being able to share her heart with other little ones, despite them not being blood. The hardest thing was when they left for Hogwarts because they wouldn't need her anymore – they had friends and teachers who would support them and answer any questions they might have. She had a feeling the teachers fell woefully short though, given the barrage of questions she would receive every time a family had had a visit from the school's vice principal.

Lucius was convinced that certain things were purposefully omitted – like how the parents could contact the school and how the school were obligated to inform them, should their children be sick or injured. Particularly the last one was worrisome. Especially when he learned that the families of the two students who had been petrified by Christmas, hadn't been informed of the status of their children. Had it been Draco, he would have been furious not to be informed. He had to do something – the way Dumbledore played around with lives was despicable. They needed to send in specialists – he knew that any magizoologist would kill for the chance to study whatever beast resided in the Chamber of Secrets and having a curse breaker look at it wouldn't be too big of a problem. He would pay for both out of his own pocket if needed, but as long as Dumbledore was in power, his hands were tied – ergo, he had to do something about the old fool.

...

May 1993

Draco felt a bit rotten. Not much, but enough to make him do stupid things. Like visiting the mudblood in the hospital wing. He was being stealthy about it and had a perfect cover if someone caught him. He would say that he wanted to draw on their faces. He had even brought a quill and some ink in his satchel. If it was a professor or madam Pomfrey, he would of course pretend to visit the poor muggleborns who were victims of such a heinous crime. He wouldn't say he felt sorry for them, but he did feel slightly bad. He had told Crabbe and Goyle that he hoped Granger would die, which he honestly did at the time. But now that that possibility had come so close, it didn't feel as good as he thought it would.

He was also insanely curious about how a petrified person looked. He snuck quietly through the hospital wing, peeking through the curtains that were shielding each of the victims from view. He couldn't believe that they had the cat in its own separate bed. It even had flowers and everything. The irritating first year, Creepy or whatever his name was had a pile of chocolate frogs on the table which he snatched one of. It wasn't like he was going to eat any of them in the near future. Finally, he found Granger. She was lying on her side with her back turned towards him. They probably couldn't put her any other way because one of her legs were bending. He slowly walked around the bed, studying her. She was completely stiff as a board, but her clothes weren't affected. Her skirt was draped over her legs but had ridden up slightly. He almost automatically pulled the hem of the skirt lower to protect her modesty. He could feel himself blushing. Eventually he reached her front, where he sat down on the chair to study her closer. It was odd how her skin was still almost the same colour as before; it only had a greyish tint to it. He had actually expected that petrified people turned into rock, completely but it seemed like it was closer to a form of paralysis, which only made him more curious. He knew that he probably shouldn't, but he ran a hand down the side of her face, telling himself that he only did it to sate his curiosity. As he accidentally caressed her cheek with his thumb, he was surprised to find that the skin wasn't only completely smooth, but also warm to the touch even though it was completely hard like marble. He moved his hand down to hers and frowned when he saw a small piece of paper in it. He pulled it out, tearing it slightly since she was gripping it tightly. His stomach dropped when he saw what it was. A basilisk. He looked around at the other victims in the hospital wing. A basilisk had been loose in the castle for six months. It was a miracle that no one had died. He hurried up to put the piece of paper back in her hand. No one would believe it if it came from him, but from the golden girl? They would take it like gospel. He noticed that his pulse had skyrocketed and as he snuck back out of the hospital wing, he told himself that it was only because he had learned about the monster in the castle and not because he had touched the mudblood.

What Draco failed to understand was that petrified people are fully conscious. When Hermione had seen none other than Draco Malfoy, she had been scared out of her mind. She knew what he had said. He wanted her dead and she wondered if he was coming to finish the job the basilisk hadn't managed to do. She was deeply alarmed when he touched her skirt, but it turned into confusion when she felt him pull the skirt down rather than up. Her confusion only grey, when he sat down and just stared at her. She supposed it was some sort of morbid curiosity, but the way his face looked, all soft and without that nasty sneer he always sported, would have taken her breath away, had she actually been breathing. And then he touched her face. No, he didn't just touch. He didn't poke her – it was a downright caress, which tingled at her skin. When he took the paper in her hand, her stomach dropped. It wasn't meant for him, but when she saw his horrified expression as he read what it said, she thought that maybe, just maybe there was hope for Draco Malfoy yet.

…

June 1993

It had backfired horribly. Had he threatened the other governors? Yes. Yes, he had. Had there been another attack? Yes. But that had absolutely nothing to do with Dumbledores absence. It was as if people believed that Albus Dumbledore was surrounded with some sort of protective aura and that his mere presence ensured the safety of all. It was hopelessly naïve the way they followed him like sheep, never imagining that their shepherd would happily be sending their children to the slaughterhouse for lamb chops.

He had lost his post at the board of governors and it was detrimental for their project with the muggleborns. They would have to rely on the reports from his contact in the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad again unless he could convince Severus to go snooping. On the other hand, he might get to see his wife more.

And then there was the case of the book – the one that had gone missing from his library. He would very much like to know, how it had made its way into Ginny Weasleys hands. He hated the thing ever since his father came home with it. He had placed it in the library in a glass casing and would stare reverently at it as if he was worshipping it. Personally, Lucius just felt nauseous every time he looked at the vile thing.

As much as he despised Arthur Weasley, he couldn't imagine him stealing it and giving it to his own daughter. It was emanating dark magic, and no one in their right mind would ever give it to a child and especially not their own.

He had two suspicions – either Draco had been an idiot and had stolen it and given it to the girl as some sort of prank because he didn't know what it was.

Another option – which was far more likely, given what his friend had told him many years ago, was that they had a mole. The strange elf that might have been loyal to another. He had wondered about it several times over the years and they had researched the bonds between elves and their families time and again and had realised that the bond between the first owner and an elf could never be properly severed. But who had owned the elf first? Even with all the threats and punishments they could think of, pushing their own bond with the elf to the extreme, the elf never told them. They had been careful not to reveal any of their most important secrets to it, but the elf had full access to most of the manor in order to keep up with its duties to keep it clean. It could easily have come across the book in the library while dusting.

He was happy that he had finally gotten rid of most of the dark items in the manor, now that the elf was free to go blabbing about their affairs.


End file.
